1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust heat recovery apparatus, and more particularly to the exhaust heat recovery apparatus which can be installed in, for example, an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine and an exhaust passage of factory exhaust heat as restraining reduction in exhaust heat recovery efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in order to recover the exhaust heat of the internal combustion engine mounted on vehicles such as a passenger car, bus, and truck and the factory exhaust heat, Stirling engine with excellent theoretical thermal efficiency has received attention. Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. H4-89836 discloses a V-type Stirling engine capable of sufficiently maintaining engine performance as minimizing the void volume of the engine and also reducing a welding area of a heat exchanger tube to a great extent.
In the heat recovery of the Stirling engine, a heater needs to be efficiently heated by the exhaust heat, and working fluid with small temperature distribution needs to be introduced in a cylinder. Yet, depending upon how the Stirling engine is installed in the exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine and the exhaust passage of the factory exhaust heat, the heater (heating portion) and cooler (cooling device) cannot often be set effectively, which sometime results in reduction of the exhaust heat recovery efficiency. However, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. H4-89836 does not disclose a specific structure for the installation of the Stirling engine in the internal combustion engine.
The present invention achieves in order to solve the above problems. It is an object of this invention to provide an exhaust heat recovery apparatus which can be installed in, for example, the exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine and the exhaust passage of factory exhaust heat as restraining reduction in exhaust heat recovery efficiency.